I wanted to see the contrast of IT versus the rest of the league in the fourth quarter. I went in thinking, surely, he must be one of the top players in the league.
At first, I was pretty psyched.
In 32 games * 305 Points second to Russell (317), and almost 30 ahead of Lowry(287), in only about 7.5 minutes a fourth quarter. This comes out to 9.5 ppfq (points per fourth quarter)
- Shooting splits are 48.2/43.9/89.2, a near 50/40/90. He has taken 130 FTA, the most in the fourth quarter. There are only three other players in the top 50 of FTAPFQ(Free Throw Attempts per Fourth Quarter, get used to it) with a higher percentage;
Lillard (89.7%, 87 FTAPFQ, 8th)
Teague (88.9%, 45 FTAPFQ, 36th)
and McCollum (90.9, 44 FTAPFQ 39th).
- 68.3 TS% (a shooting percentage that takes into account, 2's, 3's, and FT percents) in the fourth, whichamong players who have played 30 games and at least 5 min's per fourth quarter is fifth behind Rudy Gobert, Dwight Howard, Julius Randle, and... uh, Otto Porter I guess. All of these players have under 20% Usage Rate (the percent of plays used by the player when they're on the floor), while IT has a ridiculous 42.8%. He's scoring well as a #1+ option in the fourth.
With all this said though, my eyes somehow wandered towards the end of the row on the atrocious NBA.com/stats.
Isaiah Thomas in fourth quarters, +/-: 0.9
Huh, that seems strangely low. Well what about his advanced stats! Traditional stats can be a little weird sometimes.
Isaiah Thomas in fourth quarters, NetRtg: +1.1
But okay, it's only been recently that IT has really taken over in the fourth.
Last 10 games, -6.8 Net RTG, -0.4+/--0.4-0.4-0.4
Insanity. Our mr.clutch is statistically a slightly above average fourth quarter player and a negative on the court in the last 10 games, (8W's, 2L's).
But my eye caught something while I perused these stats.
Marcus Smart
All Season +/- 2.5 , a +12 NetRtg
Last 10 games +/-3.8 (A total of +38 in last 10, a top 10 number), +16 NetRtg
Marcus Smart has been killing it these past 10 games, despite not being "The Little Guy".
For reference, i'm pulling from anyone with 8 games or more and at least 6 minutes in the fourth on average, in the past 10 games (consistent rotation players who may have missed a game for rest or sickness)
*He's only shot the ball 10 times, but is shooting 60/40/100. To be expected when his usage rate is 9.6%, one of the lowest among the top NetRtg guys.
*He has 18 Assists, with a seemingly ugly 5 turnovers. But a 3.6 Ast/TO ratio is is up there with Kyle Lowry (14 asts/6 tov, 2.3), John Wall (23 Asts/9 Tov, 2.4), and...uh, Malcom Brogdon (24 asts/7 tov, 3.4). Also he has a 48.1 Assist Ratio (not like Ast/Tov, but it's the percent of Marcus Possessions that end in an assist or FT assist), which is one of the top marks in all the parameters I set.
Smart, as usual, doesn't put up the highest box stats or best BBREF basketball score. He makes winning plays, hits the clutch shot, or gets the ball into the right place. I've been really impressed by him these past 10 games, and his fourth quarter play has been the perfect compliment to IT's.
IT's negative on/off stats these past 10 games can probably be attributed to close games. The positivity of Smart's can only be praised due to the closeness of these games. He's making sure we help build a lead and making sure it stays that way when IT is off the court. I hope Smart can really make the most of the second half of the season. Hopefully this is his semi-breakout year.
edit: I suck at formatting
Submitted January 08, 2017 at 10:51AM by cabose12